MILWAUKEE — Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey Norman joined Wisconsin’s Afternoon News to share what it was like to have a seat right next to President Joe Biden last week at the White House.
“It was an honor, definitely having the chance to have the ear of the President of the United States,” Chief Norman told WTMJ. “I would say it was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be there.”
The Milwaukee Police Chief said he did not know he would be sitting next to President Biden before it happened:
“The White House staff did the strategic seating arrangement there so we saw our name cards out there and I said ‘I guess this is my seat.’ It was actually really interesting because there was no name card in front of the President, so everyone was like ‘There’s a missing chair there for someone to sit here.'”
Norman found out he was sitting next to the POTUS, once he sat down.
The big focus of the visit was to discuss where the American Rescue Plan Act funds would be going to help cities with crime reduction strategies. Norman said, ” It was nice to be able to have the kind of time with myself and colleagues to talk about not only how that money was utilized for us in our respective cities, but how they can continue to support us.”
Norman also came in knowing he wanted to talk about Republican National Convention security grant funding.
“I know that having that kind of audience of the White House staff, the President — bringing up the critical need for funding for the RNC, I just couldn’t let pass. It was definitely a conversation, a long conversation,” Chief Norman said. “I believe we’re really moving in the right direction. A lot of support just came from Madison. I always say this: We need to help, but we need the right help. We want people who have the right attitude, the right type of behaviors in our city because we’re going to be in a World Showcase.”
We asked Chief Norman about when we will really know the exact areas that will be hard to get in and out of during the RNC:
“So we’re looking at probably late June in regards to having that footprint, but the outreach is happening right now. I know that Secret Service who we work in tandem in regards to this particular event has reached out to the area businesses… we don’t want to disrupt anyone’s life unnecessarily,” Chief Norman explained. “We do have people who still work we still have deliveries, we still have garbage collection. So all those things are being taken in consideration in regards to how do we minimize, even though there is going to be a little bit of disruption.”
The Wisconsin’s Afternoon News crew also asked what the biggest challenge is to be the Milwaukee Police Chief.
“Firearm issues in our city in our respective cities a shared issue. We also have issues in regards to the reckless driving. Again, it’s a shared issue. So having these conversations with my colleagues, knowing that we are in the same boat, but we are also sharing strategies, we’re sharing solutions and bringing a voice to our respective cities to the highest level in regards to how they can help out with the type of support they can give us,” he said.
The chief also had this to say when we asked if we as a city do enough to support officers who are dealing with calls that involve mental health.
“We are always thankful for what we get, but we always can use more. I know it’s kind of a broken record about post-2020 but you know, the ‘stay-at-home’ still has residual effects of mental health challenges and some people are just not to their best capacity right now,” Chief Norman said. “A lot of mental health-related type of [calls] for the firearm issues. I always am worried about officers.”
When asked, Milwaukee Police Chief Norman explained how bump-outs added to city streets have helped curb reckless driving:
“I will say that there is no one solution that is the solution. Combine it with all the other activities between the enforcement aspect between the messaging aspect or commitment to Vision Zero – all I can say is that anecdotally I get people saying ‘Hey, I had to slow down because I didn’t want to hit the concrete.’ I do see less crashes. I do see that we don’t have to issue as many citations, and I look at that as the glass is half full rather than half empty,” Chief Norman said, adding, “It helps in regards to slowing people down.”
Tune into Wisconsin’s Afternoon News every weekday from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.
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